Catching Stars

by Cayla Keenan

  “Because I don’t want to run anymore,” she said. “And if I stay here, I’ll be running for the rest of my life.”

  “But—”

  “Maddix,” she said, cutting him off again. “I’m with you and I’m not going anywhere.” She smiled tiredly. “Besides you wouldn’t even make it out of the tunnels without me.”

  Relief and guilt warred inside of him. Maddix desperately wanted her to stay here, stay safe, and desperately didn’t want to leave without her.

  “Ask me again,” she said, cutting into his thoughts.

  “What?”

  “Ask me how I got my scar.”

  “How did you get your scar?” he asked, obliging

  “I was young,” Jayin said. “Still at Northside, before my magic manifested. One day I woke up to something yowling outside of my window, and when I went to check, I found baby carrions throwing rocks at a stray cat. They were going to kill it. I told them to stop, and when they wouldn’t…” She sighed, throwing an arm over her eyes. “I broke two of their noses and gave another a black eye before they fought me to the ground. I thought they were going to kill me and let me bleed to death in the gutter, all over a stupid cat. But instead, they gave me this. So they would know always know me, they said.”

  “What happened to the cat?” Maddix asked. It was an insipid question, but he couldn’t stop imagining her, beaten and bloody but refusing to back down. Willing to stare death in the face, even then.

  “I tried to bring it back inside with me, but my matron found out,” Jayin replied. “She broke two of my ribs and drowned it in a bucket.”

  In that moment, Maddix hated the lot of them. The carrions, the Northside matron, all of them.

  “Jayin?” Maddix said after a few minutes. There was no answer, and he turned to see that she’d fallen asleep. Maddix stood, taking care not to wake her.

  The story was no comfort to him. If anything, it only tightened the knot in his stomach. He was no cat, and the foes they were up against weren’t kids who hadn’t yet been jumped into the gangs. If they kept going to Pavaal, she was going to fare a lot worse than just a scar.

  Maddix laid his head against the stone wall, his thoughts a tangled jumbled save for one. Neither of us are long for this world.

  Chapter Thirty:

  Jayin

  It took almost a day to sleep off the effects of the feeder’s magic. Jayin woke with a start, her magic flaring. For a moment she forgot about the stone around her neck, helping to accelerate the healing, and she panicked.

  Maddix was gone. She couldn’t feel him anywhere.

  “I’m here,” he said, his face swimming into focus. His hair was out of its usual bun, wet and hanging to his shoulders. It was darker too, more red than gold. Somehow Jayin was embarrassed she noticed. She reached out a hand as if to cup his cheek, and Maddix stilled.

  “Stars, ow, what was that for?” he said when she cuffed him on the back of the head instead.

  “For being an idiot.”

  “I’m not sure I deserved that,” Maddix said, rubbing the back of his head and handing her a canteen. “How are you feeling?”

  “Like I had the magic sucked out of my body by a kid who can’t control her powers,” she replied. She’d had run-ins with feeders before, but nothing like that. Her shields had gone down and everything flooded in, but only for a second. It was like her magic was bleeding into the air and taking her life along with it. She was dying, right there in the tunnels while half the coven watched.

  Worst of all was the cold. Jayin’s blood froze in her veins and every heartbeat felt as if it should shatter her frostbitten skin. Then Maddix found her, blue eyes so full of fire that he chased the ice away.

  “That sounds about right. Here,” he said, passing her a canteen. “The sahir are not happy with us.”

  There he went again, talking about them like they were some kind of team when he’d tried to convince her to stay behind just the night before. Jayin couldn’t understand it. He wouldn’t even make it back to Aestos without her, let alone Pavaal.

  She should be praising the stars to be rid of him—he’d almost gotten her killed half a dozen times and there was no way this wouldn’t end bloody—but she had nowhere else to go. Nowhere else she wanted to go. No doubt there were Kaddahn ports that chartered ships to the Isles, but even if she could get there without alerting the authorities, the Isles were a distant dream now. This was her reality.

  She was tired of running, tired of being on her own. For so long, she thought that she was better off that way, and then Om had come along and given her hope. He’d given her hope and it had gotten him killed. Jayin would be damned if she let that happen to Maddix too.

  Besides, it was high time she went home.

  Only now, home wasn’t a ramshackle apartment over the apothecary in the Gull, but something else entirely. Something she desperately wanted to keep.

  “They’ll get over it,” Jayin said, sipping the water slowly. “Besides, we’ll be gone soon.” They should have left already, but Maddix made it clear that they weren’t going anywhere until she was well.

  “Excuse me,” a young voice said by the door. “Rahael sent me. I’m a healer.”

  “You’re a kid,” Maddix said. The girl couldn’t have been older than fifteen, most of her face obscured by shining blonde hair.

  “Training to be a healer starts early,” the girl said. “But what would you know about it, dayri?”

  “Watch it,” Jayin said sharply, and the girl had the good sense to look abashed.

  “Maddix, I’m okay.” She didn’t want him around for this next part. He nodded, shooting the healer one last look before leaving.

  “This is going to hurt,” the girl promised. Jayin gritted her teeth. She’d been injured often enough to be intimately familiar with the healing process. The girl laid her hands on Jayin’s skin, placing her fingers over the bruises. Jayin winced as fire burned under her skin, scorching away the injuries. The girl’s energy slammed against Jayin’s shields until it finally broke through.

  The girl was terrified. Of Jayin and of Maddix even more. She thought he was one of them, a Kaddahn soldier who’d conned his way into their hideout. She was sure that he’d murder them in their beds.

  “He won’t,” Jayin said, answering the girl’s fears without thinking. The girl—Maia—looked at her, eyes wide. “He’s not one of them.”

  “How do you know?” Maia asked in a trembling voice that betrayed her age.

  “Same way I know that you lost your parents to them, and you’re the only healer in this place worth a damn. The other one isn’t half as good as you, so don’t let him tell you otherwise.” Maia was quiet for a while after that, focusing on her work. Jayin tried to keep any more of the girl’s secrets from spilling into her head.

  “You really think I’m better?” Maia asked softly, taking her hands away. Jayin rubbed her arms, trying to coax the feeling back into them. She could feel Maia’s eyes roaming over the patchwork of scars on her exposed skin.

  “I know you are,” Jayin said before she could offer to erase them.

  “You’ll be low on magic for a day or so, but you should be fine,” Maia said, blushing.

  “Thanks.”

  “You too. For what you said. And uh, for what it’s worth, I don’t think you’re a blood traitor.”

  Jayin knew that, but it was still nice to hear.

  “Oh, and, um, Rahael wants to see you. If you’re feeling up to it, I mean—”

  “It’s okay,” Jayin said. She and Rahael had some things to discuss. She followed Maia through the winding tunnels to an unfamiliar sector of the compound.

  “I can announce myself,” Jayin said when Maia went to knock on a closed door. The girl swallowed, looking relieved. Jayin didn’t bother with niceties, letting herself in.

  “Do all Aestosi have such bad manners?” Rahael asked when Jayin let herself in. She didn’t look up.

  “You should come to the Gull so
metime.”

  “Unfortunately, I haven’t had the pleasure of visiting your homeland.”

  “Your son did,” Jayin said.

  Rahael looked up at her, shock and confusion written all over her usually impassive features. Now more than ever, Jayin could feel Om’s ghost hovering in her second sight. He was waiting. For what, she didn’t know. Justice, perhaps. Reconciliation.

  “What did you say?”

  Jayin was walking a dangerous line and she knew it. She inhaled through her nose. It had taken her days, but she’d finally placed why Rahael was so familiar.

  Om took after his mother.

  “He came to Aestos looking for sanctuary,” Jayin said, forcing her voice still.

  “You know my son? You know Omhinar?” Rahael’s voice wobbled. “I thought he died. There was a fire and he—”

  “Caused it,” Jayin finished when she broke off. “He was a Fire Mage, one of the most powerful elementals I’ve ever known.”

  “Was?”

  “He died,” Jayin said, each word a knife in her gut.

  “How?” Rahael’s voice shook, tears shining in her gray eyes. Om’s eyes.

  Inhaling through her nose, Jayin told the story of how they’d met in the Palace and how she’d let him escape. Om’s energy drew closer with every word until Jayin was sure he was about to materialize right behind her.

  “He saved my life,” Jayin said. “He took me in when I had nowhere else to go and—” She looked down, trying to keep her voice from cracking. “We were going to the Isles, someplace safe. But we were attacked before we got out of Aestos. I—I couldn’t—he died.”

  “He was alive,” Rahael said again. “My Omhinar. I thought, I would’ve—”

  “Om thought he killed you,” Jayin supplied, trying to somehow make this easier. They didn’t agree on much, but Rahael had just learned her son was alive. Or had been, weeks ago.

  “In the fire. He blamed himself, so he came to Aestos.” And their treacherous liar of a king had nearly turned him back over to the Kaddahn crown.

  “Thank you,” Rahael said, breaking the cavernous silence. “For being there in his last moments.”

  “I’m sorry I couldn’t save him,” Jayin whispered. Suddenly Jayin couldn’t look Rahael in the eye. She’d convinced Om to leave the safety of his home and travel with her, and they’d been ambushed by the sahirla. “It should’ve been me.”

  “You gave him more years than I ever could’ve hoped for,” Rahael said. She should be furious—cursing the day Jayin had ever been born and threatening her, but she was suspiciously calm. “Just tell me one thing. Was it your dayri?””

  “No,” Jayin said quickly. “I killed the hunter that did it.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Don’t—” Jayin started before something shook the room, nearly knocking her off of her feet. “What was that?” she asked, shaking the dust out of her hair.

  Rahael went pale. She stood and rushed past Jayin without answering. Jayin followed, pulling her knives out of her belt. The tunnels, usually so quiet at this hour, were filled with sahir racing in every direction. Magic churned in the air.

  Without thinking, Jayin sought out the cause of the chaos, before Rahael clamped her hand down on her wrist. Jayin hissed, yanking her arm away.

  “No,” Rahael said sharply. “They’ve found us. Don’t use magic unless you have to. Be safe, Jayin Ijaad.”

  The woman disappeared into the crowd, and Jayin was alone. Behind her, the clatter of a sword scraping free. Hostile energy in her second sight. Jayin spun, curved knives catching a spear meant to run her through. Time sped up and her body moved of its own accord, instinct taking over as she fought. Jayin lost track of where her vision ended and second sight began, relying on both to tell the Kaddahn from the sahir. Only one rational thought remained as she tore through the tunnels:

  She had to find Maddix.

  A scream shattered her concentration. Jayin’s focus wavered and a masked solider slipped past her guard. She wasn’t fast enough; his blade struck true and pain licked up and down her right arm as serrated steel bit into her collar. She blocked the next attack, crossing her knives to keep the soldier from slitting her throat.

  Biting back a curse, Jayin slammed her head forward. The man staggered, blood gushing from his nose. His mouth opened in a surprised ‘O’ as Jayin thrust her knife under his chin. The soldier crumpled and Jayin took off towards the flash of blonde hair at the end of the tunnel.

  Maia was trapped, cornered by two enormous men wielding swords. The girl trembled, holding a knife out in front of her like she’d never used one in her life.

  “Maia, duck!” Jayin shouted, throwing a straightblade with all her strength. It struck the first soldier between his shoulder blades. In the space of a breath, Jayin ripped it free and plunged it into the second man’s neck. She kicked the back of the second soldier’s knees, slashing both knives across his throat as he toppled.

  “Are you okay?” Jayin asked urgently, trying to check Maia for injuries.

  “I—” the girl stammered, eyes round. Blood streaked across her face and dirtied her hair.

  “Hey,” Jayin said, grabbing Maia’s face with both hands. “Now is not the time to break down.” She repositioned the knife between Maia’s fingers. “You hold it like this. Go for the face or the neck, not the chest. Make it count.”

  Maia nodded frantically, and Jayin took her hand before running back into the crowd. Somehow they made it back to Jayin’s cave without being trampled or coming face-to-face with another Kaddahn soldier.

  “Falling stars in the sky Above, where is he?” Jayin swore when the cave turned up empty. “Stay here,” she said, turning to Maia. “Do not move, do not try to be a hero, and if someone tries to hurt you, kill them first.”

  “Please don’t leave.” Maia’s voice shook, terrified tears collecting on her lower eyelashes.

  “You can do this,” Jayin said. “Stay out of sight.”

  She didn’t wait for Maia to respond, running out of the cave. She turned back for a second and glamored the door so it just looked like the rest of the stone passageway. It was more magic than she had to spare, but Jayin knew that if it came down to it, Maia would be slaughtered in a fight.

  “Maddix!” Jayin shouted as she ran against the current of people. Someone slammed into her, sending her flying, and Jayin reached for her magic before seeing that it was just Evin. “Where’s Maddix?” she demanded.

  Evin’s eyes flashed, then he was on her. Jayin had only a split second to brace herself before the stormwitch had her by the throat. She choked, fighting against his grip. The air smelled like ozone and above them, thunder rumbled.

  “You,” he snarled. “You did this.”

  Jayin gasped, trying to suck in as much oxygen as possible. Evin’s face blurred as black spots appeared on the edges of her sight.

  “It wasn’t me,” she wheezed.

  “You and the dayri show up, and then everything falls apart,” Evin said. Jayin didn’t know what was going to make her pass out first, the crushing force on her windpipe or his naked hand against her skin. His energy was as dark as a stormcloud, spitting electricity through her veins.

  Her lungs screamed for relief. She kicked and fought, but it wasn’t any use. All this time fighting dayri and sahirla and she was going to be killed by one of her own.

  “Step away from her.” The voice was hazy, half-imagined. The pressure on her neck released and Jayin crumpled into a heap on the tunnel floor, gasping. Slowly, her vision cleared enough to see Maddix kneeling by her side.

  “You okay?” he asked, pulling her to her feet.

  “I was looking for you,” she coughed.

  “You found me. Now we’ve got to get out of here, come on.”

  “What did you do to Evin?”

  The dark witch was on the ground, his nose bleeding heavily. His gray-gold eyes bore into the two of them, furious but very much alive.

  “His face
and my fist got into a disagreement,” Maddix said. “Sorry I hit him before you had the chance.”

  “Just this once I forgive you,” Jayin said, holding onto him as he dragged her through the chaos. “Maddix!” she shouted, feeling hostile energy heading their way.

  A soldier barreled towards them and inexplicably, Maddix turned towards her instead of reaching for his sword.

  “Play along,” he hissed. He mimed as if running her through and Jayin allowed herself to fall to the blood-soaked ground. “There’s more over there!” Maddix shouted. The soldier ran past.

  “What—?”

  “I’m one of them, remember?” he said, answering the question before she could finish asking it.

  “You’re not,” she said. Not in any of the ways it mattered.

  “Yes I am,” he disagreed. “Come on.”

  Jayin wanted to argue, wanted to make him believe her, but they didn’t have the time. The tunnels were being overrun.

  Through the throng of people, Jayin saw Rahael fighting three soldiers on her own, twirling a double-bladed staff like it was an extension of her body. She was holding them off, but she couldn’t keep it up for much longer. More soldiers were converging, their malevolent energy trained on her.

  “No,” Maddix said, grabbing the back of her coat as Jayin tried to fight her way towards Rahael. Jayin tripped over something—someone—as he yanked her towards him. She swallowed a scream. Linji’s dead eyes stared up at her, glassy like marbles. Blood matted her silver hair and drew tracks down her wrinkled, unmoving face. Linji. The old woman was the strongest sonic Jayin had ever seen; she should’ve outlived them all.

  She snarled, a furious, wordless cry, ripping her hand out of Maddix’s grip and throwing herself into the crowd. She wasn’t going to let Rahael die; she couldn’t let her die. Not now. Not after Linji. Maddix shouted after her, but she ignored him, plunging on.

  “Stop!” Maddix said, cutting down a soldier to get to her.

  “I have to help,” Jayin said, watching desperately as Rahael began to be overwhelmed by her opponents. By her side, Om’s ghost burned, demanding action.